Related papers: On the accuracy of HI observations in molecular cl…

The presence of atomic gas mixed with molecular species in a "molecular" cloud may significantly affect its chemistry, the excitation of some species, and can serve as probe of the cloud's evolution. Cold neutral atomic hydrogen (HI) in…

We have used the Arecibo telescope to carry out an survey of 31 dark clouds in the Taurus/Perseus region for narrow absorption features in HI ($\lambda$ 21cm) and OH (1667 and 1665 MHz) emission. We detected HI narrow self--absorption…

Stars form in the dense interiors of molecular clouds. The dynamics and physical properties of the atomic interstellar medium (ISM) set the conditions under which molecular clouds and eventually stars will form. It is, therefore, critical…

Cold atomic hydrogen clouds are the precursors of molecular clouds. Due to self-absorption, the opacity of cold atomic hydrogen may be high, and this gas may constitute an important mass component of the interstellar medium (ISM). Atomic…

Molecular clouds form from the atomic phase of the interstellar medium. However, characterizing the transition between the atomic and the molecular interstellar medium (ISM) is a difficult observational task. Here we address cloud formation…

We investigate the impact of high optical depth on the HI saturation observed in the Perseus molecular cloud by using Arecibo HI emission and absorption measurements toward 26 radio continuum sources. The spin temperature and optical depth…

We have investigated the time scale for formation of molecular clouds by examining the conversion of HI to H2 using a time-dependent model. H2 formation on dust grains and cosmic ray and photo destruction are included in one-dimensional…

We examine the triggering process of molecular cloud formation around diffuse HII regions. We calculate the time evolution of the shell as well as of the HII region in a two-phase neutral medium, solving the UV and FUV radiative transfer,…

We present a pilot HI survey of 17 Planck Galactic Cold Clumps (PGCCs) with the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST). HI Narrow Self-Absorption (HINSA) is an effective method to detect cold HI being mixed with…

We present a detailed study of an estimator of the HI column density, based on a combination of HI 21cm absorption and HI 21cm emission spectroscopy. This "isothermal" estimate is given by $N_{\rm HI,ISO} = 1.823 \times 10^{18} \int \left[…

HI self absorption (HISA) clouds are clumps of cold neutral hydrogen (HI) visible in front of warm background gas, which makes them ideal places to study the properties of the cold atomic component of the interstellar medium (ISM). The…

Galaxy disks are shown to contain a significant population of atomic clouds of 100pc linear size which are self-opaque in the 21cm transition. These objects have HI column densities as high as 10^23 and contribute to a global opacity…

An intriguing fact about cosmic gas clouds is that they all appear to have neutral (atomic) hydrogen column densities smaller than 10^{22} cm^{-2}. Observations of damped Ly-alpha (DLA) absorption systems further indicate that the maximum…

We have mapped cold atomic gas in 21cm line HI self-absorption (HISA) at arcminute resolution over more than 90% of the Milky Way's disk. To probe the formation of H2 clouds, we have compared our HISA distribution with CO J=1-0 line…

Recent submillimeter and far-infrared wavelength observations of absorption in the rotational ground-state lines of various simple molecules against distant Galactic continuum sources have opened the possibility of studying the chemistry of…

We present synthetic Hi and CO observations of a simulation of decaying turbulence in the thermally bistable neutral medium. We first present the simulation, with clouds initially consisting of clustered clumps. Self-gravity causes these…

The majority of hydrogen in the interstellar medium (ISM) is in atomic form. The transition from atoms to molecules and, in particular, the formation of the H$_2$ molecule, is a key step in cosmic structure formation en route to stars.…

The process of atomic-to-molecular (HI-to-H$_2$) gas conversion is fundamental for molecular-cloud formation and star formation. 21 cm observations of the star-forming region W43 revealed extremely high HI column densities, of 120-180…

Molecular clouds, which harbor the birthplaces of stars, form out of the atomic phase of the interstellar medium (ISM). We aim to characterize the atomic and molecular phases of the ISM and set their physical properties into the context of…

In this paper we study 21-cm absorption spectra and the corresponding emission spectra toward bright continuum sources in the test region (326deg< l < 333 deg) of the Southern Galactic Plane Survey. This survey combines the high resolution…